Army Social Media Management Services
INTRODUCTION
The U.S. Army Contracting Command -New Jersey (ACC-NJ) on behalf of Office of the Chief of Public Affairs (OCPA), Washington DC is currently seeking potential sources with the capability of providing a web-accessible enterprise level social media management software to facilitate engagement, scheduling, team management, content curation, monitoring and reporting for various Army Social media presences. This Sources Sought Notice (SSN) serves as a means of conducting market research to identify sources who have an interest in and the resources to support this requirement.
ESTIMATED PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE consists of one year with the possibility of two (2) option years and an assumed performance commencing during 2018.
CONTRACT TYPE is anticipated to be Firm Fixed Price (FFP).
PLACE OF PERFORMANCE: TBD
All data received in response to this Sources Sought that is marked or designated as corporate or proprietary will be fully protected from any release outside the Government.
No phone calls will be accepted.
ELIGIBILITY
The applicable North American Industrial Classification System (NAICS) code for this requirement is 541519, "Other Computer Related Services" with a Small Business Size Standard of $27.5M. Interested parties are to provide their NAICS code if different from above and their respective Product Service Code. Businesses of all sizes are encouraged to respond; however, each respondent must clearly identify their business size in their capabilities statement.
BASED ON THE RESPONSES TO THIS SOURCES SOUGHT NOTICE/MARKET RESEARCH, THIS REQUIREMENT MAY BE SET-ASIDE FOR SMALL BUSINESSES (IN FULL OR IN PART) OR PROCURED THROUGH FULL AND OPEN COMPETITION, and multiple awards MAY be made. All Small Business Set-Aside categories will be considered. Telephone inquiries will not be accepted or acknowledged, and no feedback or evaluations will be provided to companies regarding their submissions.
INSTRUCTIONS
Interested parties are requested to submit a capabilities statement of no more than ten (10) pages in length in Times New Roman font of not less than 10 pitch. The deadline for response to this Sources Sought is no later than 12:00 pm, EST 16 April 2018. All responses under this Sources Sought Notice must be e-mailed to the Contract Specialist, Tiffany Nosti, and the Contracting Officer Evangelina C. Tillyros, in either Microsoft Word or Portable Document Format (PDF), at tiffany.n.nosti.civ@mail.mil and evangelina.c.tillyros.civ@mail.mil.
All questions must be submitted to the contract specialist identified above. The Government is not committed nor obligated to pay for the information provided, and no basis for claims against the Government shall arise as a result of a response to this Sources Sought.
Responses to this notice must address, at a minimum, the following items:
1. Respondents are requested to provide answers to the following questions. If your firm is able to provide the capability, please provide additional details regarding your capabilities and product offering. If your firm is unable to provide this capability, please respond in the negative and if applicable provide a justification.
Does your firm have the following capabilities:
a. The contractor shall provide a web-accessible enterprise level social media management software to facilitate social media content scheduling, planning, engagement, scheduling, team management, content curation, monitoring and reporting for various Army Social media presences.
b. Software runtime shall be on a 24/7/365 basis with metric and reporting updates daily. Helpdesk operation is required between the hours of 0900-1700 (EST/EDT). Access to helpdesk support after operational hours in the event of an emergency is required.
c. The contractor shall provide access to this software for up to 500 user accounts. Each account will allow users to manage the daily operations of their organization's social media presences.
d. A fully customizable reporting feature. Reporting shall support information and metrics for all features on the solution to include, but not limited to, engagement activities, post and content scheduling, team management activities, content curation, syndication activities, content posting, account activation and execution, monitoring and reporting for various Army Social media presences.
e. Include what social media platforms your firm can operate with.
f. Calendar. A customizable social media content publishing calendar that can synchronize Army wide social media efforts. This calendar should have capability to map out engagement activities, programs, digital media strategies, multimedia content, campaigns, and events. This calendar shall allow for real-time updates and be fully exportable. The calendar shall allow users to make recommendations for calendar addition that would allow designated users to make approval for incorporation.
g. Content Library. The contractor shall provide a customizable content library that makes social media content such as graphics, photos, videos, Army messaging and guidance available to all users to use on their social media platforms. The library shall allow users to make recommendations for library addition that would allow designated users to make approval for incorporation.
h. Communication support. The social media software shall provide a fully customizable chat feature to allow users to communicate, coordinate and collaborate. ¬¬The contractor develop standard operating procedures for chat board participation and moderation.
i. Analytical Data. Reports should have capability to support analytical data for trend recognition. Software shall have capability to formulate bar charts, graphs, line charts, showing date/site/alert identifying trending and analysis of data.
j. Exportable Formats. Reports shall be exportable in the following formats Adobe PDF (.pdf), Microsoft PowerPoint (.pptx), Microsoft Excel (.csv)
k. Content Monitoring. The solution shall provide capability for monitoring of posts, conversations, and comments made to content posted on the Army social media platforms. Criteria will include, but not be limited to, vulgarity, disturbing images, inaccurate post data, Anti-American posts, posts that could potentially impact national security, etc.
l. DELETED
m. Capability to search for and source high-quality content for publishing on Army social media platforms.
n. Capability to develop and maintain a consolidated list of recommended user responses based on daily documentation of social media monitoring. Recommended actions in response to user responses include, but are not limited to: likes, comments, retweets, Re-grams, shares, hiding conversations, flagging/reporting comments, banning users and deleting comments.
o. The software shall include a content marketing tool/feature within the Social Media Management software to provide assistance in planning and scheduling social media content for publishing on Army social media platforms.
p. The solution shall provide the capability to plan and create meaningful Army communications in support of digital strategies that feature branded content in social media channels and submit for approval.
q. DELETED
r. Capability to obtain content sourced for Army social media channels that takes into account recent events and, to the extent possible, reflect neutrality in regard to any high visibility, contentious topics about the political environment, national security, U.S. Army and Department of Defense.
s. Capability for content sourcing and writing that reflects current trends in the social space, to include, but not limited to: length of post, volume of content published on any given day, mobile optimization, emerging content techniques, optimal publishing times, content sized and proportioned for the platform, use of graphic design such as text overlays, and the use of native functionality (e.g. tags, targeting, content preview, link description boxes, etc.).
t. Separate feature with the capability to search, identify, report for removal, and verify the removal status of impostor social media accounts/profiles for 50 designated individuals, to be provided as a "protected list". This feature would use a functional workflow process to remediate impostor accounts. Remediation for the purposes of this effort is defined as following the procedures of the respective social media platform for reporting an impostor account/profile to request the removal, and verify the removal of the reported account. Access and permissions to this feature will be provided to up to 5 individuals.
u. Capability to offer various metric reports containing information that can be manipulated for reporting. Metric reports to be exportable to Microsoft Excel and Adobe PDF.
Respondents can include additional information, such as brochures, reports, or any other specific information that would enhance the Governments evaluation of the current market conditions for a service contract of this nature.
2. Respondents are requested to also include currently available pricing packages and information on standard subscription options for the capabilities requested above.
3. Respondents must be willing to undergo a Nation Agency Check with Inquiries (NACI) Background Check and Personally Identifiably Information (PII) Training.
4. Respondents are to provide a listing of relevant recent work that their company has performed in support of a same or similar requirement.
5. What specific technical skills does your company possess which ensure capability to perform these tasks?
6. Include whether your company can satisfy this type of requirement through a web based service, cloud services, software, ect.
7. Provide a statement including small/large business status, and a company profile to include the number of employees, annual revenue history, office locations, DUNS number, ect.
8. Respondents to this notice also must indicate whether they qualify as a Small, Small Disadvantaged, Women-Owned, HUBZone, or Service Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business Concern.
This SSN is for information and planning purposes only, and should not be construed as a Request for Proposal (RFP) or a commitment by the U.S. Government. The U.S. Government does not intend to award a contract on the basis of this market survey. All information is to be submitted at no cost or obligation to the Government. The Government reserves the right to reject, in whole or in part, any private sector input as a result of the market survey. The Government is not obligated to notify respondents of the results of this survey. Any information provided will not be returned. If a formal solicitation is generated at a later date, a separate solicitation notice will be published via FedBizOps.
BACKGROUND
The Office of the Chief of Public Affairs (OCPA), is designated by the Secretary of the Army (SECARMY) as the executive agency with administrative and performance oversight of the United States (U.S.) Army's strategic communication. The OCPA is responsible for providing internal (U.S. Army) and external (the public) audiences with up-to-date and accurate information. Doing so maintains confidence in the Army and its readiness to conduct operations. The OCPA launched the Digital Media Division (DMD) in 2009 to disseminate news and information to online and mobile audiences in order to shape conditions that enhance trust and confidence in the U.S. Army. The DMD executes the Army's social media program and manages the Army's primary social media presences on various online platforms to include, but not limited to: Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram. The DMD is responsible for managing daily operations of the Army's official flagship social media presences while also synchronizing the messaging and content publishing across the Army's entire digital footprint. The DMD provides Army leadership with performance analytics of social media content in order to improve future efforts.
As the DMD works to expand the U.S. Army's digital footprint, assistance is needed to support accurate dissemination of Army communication. The DMD has a requirement for a social media planning and management solution to provide Army social media managers with a common operating picture of Army social media operations. This solution shall enhance communication and collaboration amongst DMD and Army social media managers.
This will aid in protecting the Army's online reputation by mitigating fake accounts, also known as impostor accounts, of Army senior leaders on social media. A comprehensive plan for discovery, reporting, and removal verification for impostor accounts are required. This effort defines an impostor social media account/profile as any user account portraying another person or entity in a misleading or deceptive manner. Accounts that use similar usernames, or are just similar in appearance, are not impostor accounts, nor are accounts that have profiles that clearly state they are not affiliated, or connected, with the similarly named individual.
DISCLAIMER
"THIS SOURCES SOUGHT IS FOR INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY. THIS IS NOT A "REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL (RFP)" TO BE SUBMITTED. IT DOES NOT CONSTITUTE A SOLICITATION AND SHALL NOT BE CONSTRUED AS A COMMITMENT BY THE GOVERNMENT. RESPONSES IN ANY FORM ARE NOT OFFERS AND THE GOVERNMENT IS UNDER NO OBLIGATION TO AWARD A CONTRACT AS A RESULT OF THIS ANNOUNCEMENT. NO FUNDS ARE AVAILABLE TO PAY FOR PREPARATION OF RESPONSES TO THIS ANNOUNCEMENT. ANY INFORMATION SUBMITTED BY RESPONDENTS TO THIS TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION IS STRICTLY VOLUNTARY. RESPPONSES WILL NOT BE RETURNED TO THE RESPONDER. NOT RESPONDING TO THIS NOTICE DOES NOT PRECLUDE PARTICIPATION IN ANY FUTURE REQUEST FOR QUOTE (RFQ) OR INVITATION FOR BID (IFB) OR RFP, IF ANY ISSUED. IF A SOLICITATION IS RELEASED, IT WILL BE SYNOPSIZED ON THE GOVERNMENT-WIDE POINT OF ENTRY (GPE). IT IS THE RESPONSIBILITY OF POTENTIAL OFFERORS TO MONITOR THE GPE FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMMATION PERTAINING TO THIS REQUIREMENT."
****Amendment 0001****
Corrected response date in narrative from 16 March 2018 to 02 April 2018
****Amendmeent 0002****
Questions and Responses from Industry:
Question: Paragraph c - "500 user accounts". Is this to state that up to 500 government users may need access to the system? Or that the government wishes to link up 500 different social profiles?
Response: 500 government users will need access to the system.
Question: Will the government prefer a single platform for all users? Or a platform that enables "groups" of users and profiles based on Commands/Divisions/Local Units, etc.?
Response: The Government would like to know what capabilities are available.
Question: Can you please provide an approximation for total number of social media profiles that could be part of the requirement?
Response: 500 Government users would need access to the platform; 5 specific individuals would need access to the Imposter Social Media Account feature; 50 individuals would be monitored on various social media sites.
Question: Paragraph d: "A fully customizable reporting feature". In this paragraph, we are curious to the Government's definition of "syndication activities" - could you please clarify further this term?
Response: Syndication activities, for the purposes of this notice, refers to the supply of material for reuse and integration with other material.
Question: Paragraph r: "capability to obtain content sourced for Army". Can you please clarify the desired type of content sourced and how Army plans to use a potential platform to source this content?
Response: Provide content that is applicable to the U.S. Army for use on social media channels.
Question: Paragraph t: Please define "impostor social media accounts". Is this to indicate Profiles/Accounts that claim to be US Army but are not, in fact, true Army social media channels?
Response: For purposes of this notice, an impostor social media account/profile as a user account portraying another person in a misleading or deceptive manner. This feature will be monitoring 50 specific individuals.
****Amendment 0003****
Response date is being extended from 02 April 2018 to 16 April 2018.
Questions from Industry:
1. The contractor shall provide a web-accessible enterprise level social media management software to facilitate social media content scheduling, planning, engagement, scheduling, team management, content curation, monitoring and reporting for various Army Social media presences.
a. Is the Army looking for a SaaS solution, or is the contractor building proprietary software for the government?
Govt. Response: SaaS, not a custom-built system. Web-based.
b. If building a proprietary solution, are there any restrictions on what COTS (commercial off the shelf) solutions may be included in the application?
Govt. response: NA
c. Will the Army provide detailed system, UI/UX, and software requirements documents, or are these to be written in conjunction with the contractor?
Govt. Response: System should be a web or cloud based SaaS.
d. Should the proposal include design and build of iOS and Android app versions of the platform?
Govt. Response: The SaaS should also have a mobile app available for iOS and Android for the social media managers to use.
2. The contractor shall provide access to this software for up to 500 user accounts. Each account will allow users to manage the daily operations of their organization's social media presences.
a. Where will the application be hosted, and by whom?
Govt. Response: It should be a commercially available web-based (cloud) system that is hosted by the commercial social media planning and management tool provider.
b. Does the Army have any special ACL (access control lists) or authentication protocols that the contractor must implement, outside of industry-standard? Is there a military standard that differs from industry?
Govt. Response: SaaS solution should meet all applicable Army and Department of Defense web and cloud service requirements.
c. Who are the responsible parties, how must they be notified, and within what time frame when the maximum number of user accounts has been reached?
Govt. Response: The Government will provide a main Point of Contact (POC) who will be responsible for managing the overall list of users and approving issuing and removing accounts. The contractor should track the number of available accounts remaining, and provide status monthly.
3. A fully customizable reporting feature. Reporting shall support information and metrics for all features on the solution to include, but not limited to, engagement activities, post and content scheduling, team management activities, content curation, syndication activities, content posting, account activation and execution, monitoring and reporting for various Army Social media presences.
a. To what level of granularity shall the application provide reporting on a given metric? This would seem to be constrained by the reporting capabilities offered by the individual social media platforms themselves.
Govt. Response: Metrics reporting should provide analytics on the audience; (including, but not limited to audience size, growth rates, source of followers, demographic, engagements, reactions, locations, etc..) Metrics should be provide to assess performance of content (including but not limited to: type of content, impressions, engagement, clicks, reach (paid/organic), reactions). Content performance metrics or recommendations such as "best time to publish, best day to publish, best type of content to publish would also be beneficial.
b. What does it mean for the reporting feature to be ‘customizable'?
Govt Response:The ability to change reporting timelines for the metrics, decide which metrics to export, etc... Ability to export to powerpoint or excel is also preferable.
c. What is the definition and scope of ‘syndication activities'?
Govt response: The social media planning and management service should allow the Army to coordinate and synchronize content across the force. The service should provide the headquarters, DMD, with the ability to make content available to Army-wide subordinate units for use on their social media presences via the content library and calendar. Syndication activities in this case would let the headquarters know who used a piece of content and to what degree.
d. What does ‘account execution' mean?
Govt. Response: Since DMD will be the primary managers for providing overall access to the system and issuing accounts, DMD needs to know if accounts are being used or not. Because there is a finite amount of accounts, DMD would remove inactive accounts from some users and provide to others for use.
4. Calendar. A customizable social media content publishing calendar that can synchronize Army wide social media efforts. This calendar should have capability to map out engagement activities, programs, digital media strategies, multimedia content, campaigns, and events. This calendar shall allow for real-time updates and be fully exportable. The calendar shall allow users to make recommendations for calendar addition that would allow designated users to make approval for incorporation.
a. What are expected formats to support an exportable calendar (i.e. .csv)? Are these the same formats outline in section "j"?
Govt. Response: Powerpoint or .PDF
b. To what extent shall the calendar be ‘customizable' on a per-user basis? What features are to be customizable?
Govt. Response: The users should be able to change the timespan for viewing/exporting the calendar such as a day, week or monthly view. DMD team members will be the primary "owners" of the calendar. Other social media managers at subordinate units will be able to view the calendar, and should have a method to submit recommendations for calendar additions to the DMD team to consider adding.
5. Communication support. The social media software shall provide a fully customizable chat feature to allow users to communicate, coordinate and collaborate. ¬¬The contractor develop standard operating procedures for chat board participation and moderation.
a. What is meant by "contractor develop standard operating procedures"? Aren't the guidelines already in place by DoD?
Govt. Response: The chat feature would be located inside the web-based social media planning and management tool. The chat feature would simply allow the geographically dispersed social media managers to share information. Ideally, inside the system, would be an SOP for chat board use. DMD can provide chat board engagement requirements.
b. How must SOP be enforced by the application?
Govt. Response: DMD would resolve issues with chat board misuse following the posted SOP or guidelines.
c. What shall the reporting mechanism be (if any) for SOP violations? To whom shall SOP violations be reported?
Govt. Response: Direct message sent to DMD team members who will take action by resolving the issue by either posting a message to the group, individual or potentially removing individual from the group.
d. What is the scope of ‘fully customizable' as regards the chat feature? Are customization options offered on a per-user basis or controlled by a super user for the entire user base?
Govt. Response: Users should be able to customize their profile information such as a photo, unit or contact information. This is how they are depicted in the chat board.
6. Analytical Data. Reports should have capability to support analytical data for trend recognition. Software shall have capability to formulate bar charts, graphs, line charts, showing date/site/alert identifying trending and analysis of data.
a. What is meant by "alert" in this context?
Govt. Response: Alert in this context would be a notification in the system or through SMS/email to DMD when content about the U.S. Army or Soldiers is being widely shared. Baseline would be 500 more shares on Facebook and 300 retweets on Twitter.
7. Content Monitoring. The solution shall provide capability for monitoring of posts, conversations, and comments made to content posted on the Army social media platforms. Criteria will include, but not be limited to, vulgarity, disturbing images, inaccurate post data, Anti-American posts, posts that could potentially impact national security, etc.
a. What guidance will the Army provide to assist the application in determining whether an image is ‘disturbing', a post is ‘inaccurate', or content is ‘Anti-American'? (For example, access to a database of restricted or suspect words, phrases, or images?)
Govt Response: Yes, DMD maintains a list of user commenting and content guidelines.
b. What languages is the application required to support when scrubbing for objectionable content? Ex: What happens if a user posts a message in Swahili?
Govt. Response: English is the default. System should be able to provide translation as needed for Mandarin, Spanish, Hindi, Arabic, Portuguese, Bengali, Russian, Japanese, Punjabi, German, and Korean.
c. Shall the application make provision for encoded messages, and if so, what guidance will the Army provide to assist the application in flagging such content for review?
Govt. Response: No.
7. Ability to record and utilize responses to posts to provide information on how social media groups are receiving the information.
Govt. response: This section has been removed from the notice.
8. Capability to search for and source high-quality content for publishing on Army social media platforms.
In what ways does the Army typically source content?
Govt. response: Reviewing feeds from subordinate unit and DOD social media presences such as Facebook and Flickr feeds, DVIDS, and DIMOC.
9. Capability to develop and maintain a consolidated list of recommended user responses based on daily documentation of social media monitoring. Recommended actions in response to user responses include, but are not limited to: likes, comments, retweets, Re-grams, shares, hiding conversations, flagging/reporting comments, banning users and deleting comments.
We believe this means the application shall prompt responsible parties to interact with monitored content. If so, what criteria shall the application apply to determine whether content should:
a. be favorably dispositioned (like, retweeted, etc.)?
Govt. Response: System does not need to provide this. DMD personnel will make this determination by reviewing the comments in the "inbox" section.
b. be flagged?
Govt. Response: Flagged for potential deletion/removal: Violates user guidelines. DMD manages a list of community engagement guidelines and can provide. This would include things such as vulgarity, nudity, hate speech, unrelated comments/images/videos intended to disrupt conversation or hijack thread.
c. be deleted?
Govt. Response: Same as above.
d. cause a user to be reported?
Govt. Response: DMD will make this determination based on violation of user community engagement guidelines.
e.cause a user to be banned?
Govt. Response: DMD will make this determination based on violation of user community engagement guidelines.
10. Capability to ensure accompanying photography, headlines, tweets, Instagram's, Facebook posts identify accurate events and activities captured by the Army are accurate, clear, and concise.
Govt. response: This capability was removed from the notice.
Tiffany Nosti, Contract Specialist, Email tiffany.n.nosti.civ@mail.mil - Evangelina Tillyros, Contracting Officer, Email evangelina.c.tillyros.civ@mail.mil
